The One Thousandth Fuso
Tue, April 11, 2017
I never know from week to week what will pop up in my email inbox. Just this last week I heard from a Fuso owner living in British Columbia, Canada, he owns Fuso number 1000. He had bought it in 2008 from a friend who was the original owner.
It wasn’t until he sent pictures that the memory bank in my mind started to tick over, and I began to remember this one. It was a very special bike that was given some custom touches, like and all chrome front fork and rear triangle.
Built towards the end of 1986, that’s over 30 years ago and a long way to cast my memory back.
The first Fuso was built in 1984, I’m not sure what month, but a few months into the year.
The first frames were numbered 001, 002, 003, and so on. So up until frame number 999, it was always a three digit number.
So switching to a four digit number was an occasion. It also showed how successful the Fuso initially was as I had built a thousand of them in a little over two years.
In September every year I attended the Interbike Trade Show. I believe at that point it was still held in California. First in Long Beach, then Anaheim, before moving permanently to Las Vegas, Nevada in later years.
This 56 cm. bike was my center show piece for that year's Interbike, which is why I went all out with the special touches. It was essentially a Fuso LUX model, but on the rear end of the top tube where the “Fuso LUX” decal usually went, I put my signature, which was normally reserved for my custom frames only.
And on the front right side of the top tube it said, “1,000th Fuso.”
After the show the bike was sold to Los Angeles bike dealer, I. Martin Imports.
A few months later it was bought by the original owner, Brett Bandy, who later moved to British Columbia.
The current owner James Nicholls, still rides the bike. Here is a picture of James (Above left.) on this very same bike riding in the Vernon, BC Gran Fondo.
Thanks for the memory James.
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Reader Comments (8)
How cool it must be to reconnect with these marvelous machines that you made so long ago. Thanks for sharing, Dave.
Looking closely, are those brake blocks installed backwards? Looks like the capped end is facing the rear of the bike.
Brian,
A good eye. I had to enlarge the photo to confirm you could be right. I am reminded of the time I rode a cyclo-cross event, and was stalled by another rider on a steep incline. I started to roll backwards and instinctively applied both brakes hard. The result was all four brake blocks shot out the back of the shoes. It took me several minutes to find them amongst the dead leaves.
After that I drilled a hole in the top of each brake shoe, and inserted a small self-tapping screw to hold the rubber blocks in place in either direction. I don’t recall riding backwards again but I was covered if I did.
Dave
Thanks for the heads up Brian and Dave. I have not had the opportunity to ride my FUSO backwards, either by accident or purposely, so I have not run into the problem Dave mentioned above.
Sorry if I confused the issue. but brake shoes (That hold the rubber block.) have a stop to prevent the blocks from sliding forward and out under normal braking conditions. That stop should be at the front. If anyone is not sure about this, please take a look and think about it. It could be potentially dangerous, if they are installed backwards.
I try not to insult peoples intelligence and state the obvious, but neither can I assume that everyone knows this.
Dave.
Kinda gorgeous.
Hello again. I checked the rear brake blocks and they were indeed backwards. I appreciate the information as I would not have noticed myself.
James
HI Dave,
don't publish this,
A fuso for sale on the Toronto Craigslist, has the serial # on the b.b.
https://toronto.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/6093415135.html
.
Cheers
Keith